This is a study of "animalization," which links the theoretical establishment of human superiority over animals to processes of dehumanization and brutalization. Beginning with Descartes, the author explores the reasoning that has been deployed to draw distinctions between humans and animals and then extend such distinctions to the rendering non-human of humans. He then looks at the practice of animalization in slavery and during the European Holocaust. Finally, he discusses how older theories, modes, and acts of animalization live on in contemporary modes of discrimination, racism, and sexism, even if by more sophisticated and subtle means. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)